A self-imposed exile, Ferreira said he simply wasn’t able to find a suitable place to fight in the years that preceded mixed martial arts’ current explosion in popularity.

Unfortunately for the Chute Boxe-trained submission master, it’s a position he’s known all too well.

“I started training luta livre since I was very young,” Ferreira told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) through an interpreter. “After some years of training, it seemed a natural step to start fighting in MMA tournaments.

“How I ended up training at Chute Boxe is really an interesting story because Chute Boxe fighters and I didn’t get along very well. I had fought two Chute Boxe fighters and had submitted them in the first round. In one event (Jungle Fight), some years ago, my team at the time and Team Chute Boxe even had a backstage problem.”

Yet the curse of inactivity began to rear its ugly head even at that early stage in Ferreira’s career. Seeing a talented fighter struggling to find suitable competition, the team he thought was a mortal enemy soon became his biggest ally.

“I started having some difficulties in finding fights, and I was even considering quitting my career as a fighter,” Ferreira said. “I gave an interview to a Brazilian site, and they posted it. On the same day, I received a phone call from Rudimar Fedrigo, Chute Boxe president. At first, I thought it was a joke, then I realized it was really Rudimar. He started telling me that it would be a shame if I quit my career because I was a very talented fighter.

“At the end of our conversation, he invited me to join Chute Boxe. He even sent me the plane tickets so I could go from Rio de Janeiro, the city where I live, to Curitiba, where Chute Boxe headquarters is located.

“At first it was awkward because I thought the fighters and coaches wouldn’t receive me well. But on the contrary, they received me as if I were part of their team.”

Reinvigorated and reinvented, Ferreira went about advancing himself in the world of MMA. Unfortunately, despite holding victories over notables Branden Lee Hinkle, Heath Herring, Shannon Ritch and Bob Schrijber, among others, Ferreira never was quite able to make it to the sport’s biggest organizations.

Now 31 years old, Ferreira said he just doesn’t understand why it took so long to make it to the pinnacle of the sport.

“That’s the question I ask myself every single day,” Ferreira said. “Unfortunately, I don’t know the answer. I’ve been fighting just about anyone, I never chose an opponent, and I’m not a lay-and-pray kind of fighter. I really go for the submission, and I believe I’ve been doing well.

“Some promoters told me it’s really hard to find opponents that would take a chance and face me because chances are they are going to get submitted, but I really don’t know the answer.”

With 17 submission wins in his 18 career victories, it’s understandable why potential opponents might prove a touch hesitant. A two-time medalist at the Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championship, Ferreira’s compact, powerful frame provide him with a means of quickly latching onto his opponents to force the tap.

“Besides the fact that I’ve been training my whole life to do it, I think the way my body is composed facilitates my moves,” Ferreira said. “I have very long arms despite my height, a shorter body, and I’m strong by nature. I joke around with my friends that I have a gorilla’s body and that I can submit people even if I’m sleeping.”

Ferreira’s probably only half-joking. His past six victories have all come via submission in a total time of just four minutes and 10 seconds.

After 12 years of competing as a professional, Ferreira hopes his time has finally arrived – and that the opponents will be easier to find.

“I’m willing to face anybody in the 205-pound division,” Ferreira said. “I said anybody. I do not choose opponents; just tell me where and what time I should be there.

“I still can accomplish many things in MMA because I’m still young. I just need a chance to prove that I walk as I talk. I’m sure if given the chance, I’ll put a lot of the big names out there to sleep in round one.”

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